Overshot water-wheel



JOHN E. WHITEMOREQ, lor .-oLmT, ILLINoIs ovERsno'r WATERFWHEEL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 10,299, dated December 6, 1853.

T0 all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN E. WHrr-EMORE, of Joliet, in the county of Willand State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement inOvershot VVater-Vheels;v

and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the construction and operation of the same, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification,in which- Figure l is a side elevation of the wheel, having a port-ionof the shrouding removed rto show the construction of the buckets. Fig.2 is a front elevation of the same showing the operation of the leverson the face of the wheel upon the bolt rods.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures refer to the samepart of the machine.

My invention relates to an improvement in overshot water wheels, andconsists in so constructing the buckets, that after receiving theimpulsion of the water they are closed by its action, and the coversfastened down by means of springs and levers o-n the face of the wheel,which latter by striking an exterior cam, throw forward the bolt rodsconnected with them, permitting the catches of the covers to descend,when the spring beneath the lever draws the bolt into the catch andsecures the cover; thus confining the water, and allowing its weight toact until the bottom of the wheel is reached, when another cam strikingthe lever attached to the bolt rod, releases the catch from the bolt andpermits the confined water to throw open the door, and fall from thewheel, contributing by its reactive power on leaving the bucket to thepropulsion of the wheel; the cover hanging loose during the remainder ofits revolution, and presenting an open bucket to the action of the waterwhen by the revolution of the wheel it comes under the stream.

Inthe drawing A and B are the shrouds of the wheel, between which arethe buckets C constructed as shown in Fig. l, and having each the coverD movable about the hinges a, and 'secured when down by the bolts b andcatches 0. The bolt rods F are attached to the levers d on theface ofthe wheel, movable about the fulcrum e and pressed out by the springs f,yso that the natural tendency of the bolts is to secure the covers.

The'operation of my improved wheel is as follows: The buckets when theyfirst Y come under the influence of the water and receive thepercussion, are open as seen at m Fig. l: as the bucket advances thewater strikes the edge of the cover D and revolves it about the hingesa, closing the bucket; the upper surface of the cover then receives theimpulsion while the water contained in the bucket acts by its weight. Asthe wheel revolves the extremity of the lever dpresses against the camG, pushing forward the bar F and permitting the catch e to descend itsfull extent, so that the bolt b shoots into it by the action of thespring f when the cam G is passed and 'the pressure on the lever .dremoved. The .bucket continues locked, allowing the water to act by itsweight, until the lever d reaches the lower cam P, which pushing backthe bar F as before, releases the boltk b from the catch @allowing thewater confined in the bucket to throw open the door D and fall fromthewheel, assisting by its reaction the rotation` of the wheel. Thebucket thus opened, con-` tinues so during the remainder of therevolution, when'it is again acted upon as above described. Thisarrangement causes the y water received in the buckets, to act by its"weight to favor the rotation asl long as ity can be eEect-ual, when byremoving the bolt and allowing its escape its' reaction on leav-v ingcontributes in a great degree to that end: Vthus forming a wheel bywhich the water is made to expend its whole power in contributing to thedesired result; acting first by percussion, then by its'weight to thelatest moment when it can be effective and finally byy reaction onleaving the bucket, thus combining advantages which require noenumeration to be appreciated.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The construction of the buckets with the covers D, operatingsubstantially in the manner and .for the purposes specified; Y

also, the levers a?, springs f, and bolt rods signed my name before tWosubscribing Wit- F as described, in combination with the cams nesses.

G and P or their equivalents for closing and opening'the bucketssubstantially in JOHN EWHITEMORE' E the manner and for the purposesherein Witnesses:

fully set forth. GEO. PATTEN,

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto ,y JN0. OBER.

